Photographer: Kaylin Idora

This photo of Perle Noire, a burlesque performer, was taken one muggy Friday night in the lobby of the Royal Sonesta on Bourbon Street. Perle had just returned from performing in L.A. with Dita von Teese. We hadn’t seen each other in a few weeks so she invited me to come out to the midnight show at Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse.

Earlier in the day I had been on a photo shoot in the French Quarter so I still had my camera hot and ready to go. While we were talking and waiting for her to go on stage, I quickly grabbed a few shots. I remember asking her to “make it big” in this shot due to the size of the hallway, and she did.